Putin makes case for Russia to use force in Ukraine

Responds to threat of sanctions

By

LucasAlpert

AlanCullison

screengrab from Russian television

President Vladimir Putin answers questions on the situation in Ukraine on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia reserves the right to use force in Ukraine to protect Russian-speaking residents there and called the toppling of former President Viktor Yanukovych’s government an “unconstitutional coup.”

In his first detailed comments since Russian troops entered the restive Ukrainian region of Crimea, Putin insisted the presence of soldiers there was simply to defend the Russian military installation on the peninsula that is home to its Black Sea Fleet, but said he saw no need to send forces into eastern Ukraine yet.

The further use of Russian force in Ukraine would be in line with international law, he said, because it was requested by Yanukovych, who he called the country’s only lawful leader. Putin denounced the new government taking form in Kiev as “illegitimate,” referring to them as “the people who call themselves the government.”

He said he understood the desire by Ukrainians for change but said “illegal change” could not be encouraged.

“It was an unconstitutional coup and an armed seizure of power that took place. No one argues with that,” Putin said.

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